Betty Smith was a respiratory therapist who was tired of seeing AIDS patients treated as pariahs when she founded the South Side Help Center in 1987.

She started by reaching out to African American ministers. When many were “hesitant,” she started going to their wives.

Today the South Side Health Center offers HIV testing, education and outreach programs along with myriad community services like youth mentoring and substance abuse counseling. The group is also dedicated to fostering other, younger community groups.

The group is turning 25 this year, and it’s featured in Windy City Times’ AIDS At 30 series, part of the Chicago Community Trust’s Local Reporting Initiative and the subject of one of several new posts at the Community News Project blog.

There’s the story of “Nina,” the first woman in the WINGS program of Cook County’s new prostitution court, profiled by Sarah Ostman at Gapers Block. And there are lots of stories of residents of Southwest Side communities collected by the Southwest Neighborhood Youth Writers Project. Check it out.

This post was taken from Community Media Workshop’s Newstips blog, written by Curtis Black. Visit the Newstips blog for more stories from Chicago’s diverse communities.

On January 18, 2012 the Internet “went dark” in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

Both of these bills would alter the technical operations of the Internet, and threaten Internet Freedom and openness online. If these bills pass, they will change the Internet as we know it. Neither bill would be effective at stamping out online piracy, but both will have consequences for how the Internet functions as a whole.

The language in the bills could impact a lot of lawful websites that artists use for publishing and distributing their work. In addition, organizers and Human Rights advocates who depend on the open Internet for organizing and advocacy could now face increased Internet censorship and threats to online speech.

Community Media Workshop joined this protest by “blacking out” our Newstips site and our Chicago is the World blog for 24 hours.

The issue doesn’t die after the black out date. The Senate votes on PIPA on January 24, 2012. Make sure your voice is heard, now. You can take part in the SOPA strike by clicking here, or by contacting your congressperson. You can write congress by clicking here.

Attention all Columbia College Students!

The deadline to turn in materials for consideration for the 2012 Studs Terkel Scholarship is February 3, 2012!

Community Media Workshop will award $2000 to the student whose class project best exhibits a Terkelian Perspective.
Click here for more details on how you can win this award!

A 2011 story by Barrington Patch about CareerPlace

At a time of record unemployment in Illinois and the country, organizations that can help people find employment and build their skills are more important then ever. Yet, CareerPlace, located in Barrington, found that more than 40% of people in their area didn’t know about their services and classes for unemployed individuals.

“We struggled with finding the time to reach out to the local media,” said Monica Keane, executive director of CareerPlace. “I thought Professional Media Relations would be a good way to learn how to get information to the public.”

After attending the Community Media Workshop’s Professional Media Relations course in early 2011, Keane said she realized that when working with the media, everything is about a story.

“I learned to stop telling the business of the agency and to tell the story of the people who are touched by what we do,” said Keane.

Since the Workshop course, CareerPlace has received more media coverage in community press (check out the Patch story here) and started developing relationships with local reporters. Keane says she can now pick up the phone and call certain reporters with possible story ideas. She’s also used the Workshop’s online press release generator and Chicago area media guide to aid in her media outreach work.

“I’m just really impressed with the Workshop,” said Keane. “The willingness of staff to roll up their sleeves and get involved with the nonprofits they serve is so important.”

Keane enjoyed her time at the Workshop so much that she decided to hire Workshop staff for a custom consulting project—development of a train-the-trainer curriculum “Using Social Media to Search, Network and Find Your Next Job” to give CareerPlace trainers tools to help job seekers use social media in their employment searches. The project was supported with a grant from the Barrington Area Community Foundation.

The Workshop team continues to work with CareerPlace to ensure successful social media trainings for its participants in the coming year.

The Workshop’s 2012 Professional Media Relations course starts Jan. 20. There are still spots available. Register today and start making your own local media connections!

Holy Cross Hospital on Chicago’s Southwest Side decided to step up its breastfeeding efforts after hearing a story on WBEZ about the hospital’s newborn breastfeeding rate being the lowest in the Chicago area. That story and subsequent policy change resulted from a pitch made by HealthConnect One’s RoiAnn Phillips to WBEZ Reporter Chip Mitchell at the Workshop’s Professional Media Relations workshop in early 2011.

“The WBEZ stories wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t taken Professional Media Relations,” said Phillips. “Without the class, I wouldn’t have understood how to frame a pitch and I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be in the room with reporters.” Read the rest of this entry »

Entre Nosotras, a multimedia blog by Radio Arte, has been publishing posts on Latina youth artists, activists and issues since September, focusing on news from Pilsen, Little Village, Back of the Yards, Bridgeport, and Brighton Park.  Portions have also appeared in Hoy and Extra, and several programs have been broadcast on WRTE.

Topics covered range widely. There’s an interview with a survivor of domestic violence, discussing her new-found freedom, and a piece with members of the Vida Fidei youth group discussing spirituality.  There are pieces on STDs and how fast food industry marketing targets young Latinos.

The series is produced by a team of young women from Radio Arte’s media training program, which gives the basics of journalism and radio production to hundreds of local youth each year.  Broadcast on 90.5 WRTE FM since 1997, Radio Arte is currently transitioning to digital broadcasting and programming; it will be one of the first Latino media centers in the nation.

Read more on this story at the Chicago Local Reporting Initiative – Community News Project page.

Alex Kotlowitz, Studs Terkel, and Thom Clark at the 2004 Terkel Awards.

Thank you for your nominations for the 2012 Studs Terkel Community Media Awards!

The nomination ballot is now closed. Please check the Community Media Workshop website in the new year to see the winners!

Click here to see a list of previous winners of the Studs Terkel Community Media Award.

Check out our latest blog post about all the tools you need to communicate your story! From our Press Release Generator, Submitting to Community Calendars to our very own Media Guide. Read more to find out what resources are available for FREE!